Stefan Keller

Stefan Keller

Stefan Keller is a historian and journalist whose works include the investigative report “Maria Theresia Wilhelm, spurlos verschwunden”, published in 1991.

Nüsperli: the indefatigable factory inspector

Stefan Keller 05.03.2026 Edmund Nüsperli, the mechanic, revolutionary and industrialist from La Neuveville (canton of Bern) travelled all over Switzerland from 1878 having been mandated by the Federal Council to implement their (at the time) brand new Factory Act. Nüsperli campaigned against child labour, poor working conditions and lethal doses of a toxic substance.
Child labour was commonplace at the beginning of industrialisation. Among its opponents and campaigners was Edmund Nüsperli, one of the first three federal factory inspectors. Illustration by Marco Heer.

What happened to Maria Theresia Wilhelm?

Stefan Keller 24.07.2025 In July 1960, a woman went missing in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley, never to be seen again. She was a psychiatric patient and the mother of seven children who had all been taken into care. The story of Maria Theresia Wilhelm and her husband Ulrich Gantenbein is a tragic tale, marred by violence and the arbitrary actions of public authorities.
Maria Theresia Wilhelm and her future husband Ulrich Gantenbein were the victims of ‘compulsory social measures’.